What is “Lifestyle Creep?” “Lifestyle creep occurs when an individual’s standard of living improves as their discretionary income rises and former luxuries become new necessities. The rise in discretionary income can happen either through an increase in income or decrease in costs.” Lifestyle creep can occur when your young when income tends to continue to rise. […]
Most people invest willy-nilly (without any planning or order). Taking some basics from journalism may help most people get better results (expectations) when they approach investing. Answers to questions about Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How? “…are questions whose answers are considered basic in information gathering or problem solving.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Ws . They’re very fundamental […]
What is the true source for the cost of delayed savings, or the cost of waiting? Most articles focus on the lost dollars, which is true. But why are those dollars lost? Please read the insert below (and a link to the post in case those who get these by email can’t access the embedded […]
You can get a sense of what “percenter” you are through a handy site that summarizes income or wealth (and other stuff too) called Shnugi. The numbers are based off of the results of the Survey of Consumer Finances by the Federal Reserve. There are two measures that people often confuse being similar. Income and […]
What is Robo-Advising? From Widipedia: “Legally, the term “financial advisor” applies to any entity giving advice about securities. But most robo-advisors limit themselves to providing portfolio management (i.e. allocating investments among asset classes) without addressing issues such as estate and retirement planning and cash-flow management, which are also the domain of financial planning.” So, […]
Most people look at the benefits they would receive today when making their decision about when to begin receiving their Social Security. They also underestimate how long they may live unless they already have medical issues that are known to reduce longevity. These two impulses cause many couples to begin their benefits too early which […]
Working or retired, the focus of most people is keeping their check book full of money for the monthly expenses they have. While working, the source of the money is obvious … it is from you working. While retired, the source of the money is less obvious … it is from your money working. So […]
Most people are aware of the 59 1/2 age rule to begin withdrawing money from an IRA without tax penalty. Few are aware that age 55 is when this applies to a 401k. What are your options? Caveat (of course): you need to have left your employer – how doesn’t matter – at 55 or […]
Whether you are still working, or retired, most people haven’t structured their budgets for spending shocks. In truth if you spend less than you could, regardless of working or retired, you build in a buffer that helps keep stress on your financial life lower. Most recognize the below as logical. Yet, many spend everything that comes […]
Most people are aware that they need to wait until they’re 59 1/2, or older, to withdraw money from their IRA without tax penalties. Many are unaware that they could, if needed, withdraw money from their IRA without penalty. This post isn’t about what is called 72t or Substantially Equal Periodic Payments per se. There […]
